Nova Scotia’s first medical marijuana facility on target in Truro

Evan Price, president of The Truro Herbal Co., stands in front of a billboard sign in the Truro Business Park, which depicts how Nova Scotia’s first medical marijuana production facility is going to look.

TRURO, N.S. - Construction on Nova Scotia’s first licensed medical marijuana production facility is expected to begin this month in the Truro Business Park.

“We’re ready to pour concrete up there now for the footings, the frost wall and the foundation,” said Evan Price, president of The Truro Herbal Co. (THC). “We’re ready and we can’t wait to get started.”

A contract has been awarded to Lindsay’s Construction of Dartmouth for development of a modern 20,000-sq.-ft., cannabis production facility.

Construction is expected to be complete by early 2018 and Price said he anticipates the first crop of medical marijuana will be available between February and March.

Following completion, a routine inspection by Health Canada is the final step in to the facility becoming the first licensed producer of medical marijuana in the province.

The project has already passed through various stages of approval and Price said he is confident of the “routine” aspect of he inspection, because after sending in 22,000 pages of detailed information on the facility to Health Canada, the agency only came back with four questions related to construction materials and security cameras.

The THC has also added to its current round of capital financing, Price said, raising to date $4.7 million in new cash and commitments since last December, including from prominent Nova Scotian entrepreneurs.

“These partnerships demonstrate confidence from the business community in our management team and market strategy as we head towards the legalization of recreational cannabis in 2018,” he said.

The overall project is expected to cost close to $10 million to get it to the operational stage. The first 15 investors in the project are primarily from within Truro.